R.I. judge: Serving bottles of distilled spirits at clubs illegal

Wednesday

Nov 20, 2013 at 10:02 PM

PROVIDENCE — The City of Providence has won a new kind of battle of the bottle with the state Department of Business Regulation. A Superior Court judge agrees with the city Board of Licenses: It is illegal...

Gregory Smith Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — The City of Providence has won a new kind of battle of the bottle with the state Department of Business Regulation.

A Superior Court judge agrees with the city Board of Licenses: It is illegal to sell a whole bottle of distilled spirits at one time at a nightclub, bar or restaurant. Period.

The DBR had contended that it was OK to sell a whole bottle under state law, but that a trained or certified server employed by the nightclub, bar or restaurant or the owner of the establishment must pour the drinks.

In a tart decision, Judge Daniel A. Procaccini in effect, slapped down the DBR for having changed its long-standing statutory interpretation in favor of allowing whole-bottle sales. The change was made in response to a complaint from a couple of nightclub proprietors amid a city crackdown on the so-called “bottle service” last winter.

The case throws a spotlight on nightclub VIP sections, where some clubs in the past few years have made the purchase of a whole bottle a condition for customers to be seated.

Andrew J. Annaldo, license board chairman, said Wednesday that violence and drinking by customers younger than the legal drinking age of 21 disproportionately occur in or stem from VIP sections. Winning the battle of the bottle, he said, is an important precursor to police efforts to minimize both problems.

“Rhode Island is one of the few states that has 18-year-olds mixing with 21-year-olds” in nightspots, he said. The alcohol is “more free-flowing” when an entire bottle is purchased, he said, and club management yields to the temptation to leave an open bottle on a table that is accessible to underage drinkers and people who drink too much.

“Public safety. Public safety. Public safety,” declared a triumphant Annaldo.

Judge Procaccini, in a written decision Monday, faulted the DBR in two ways, saying:

It addressed the subject improperly and exceeded its authority.

It is wrong about the contents of the pertinent statute, in large part because it ignored the statute’s stated purpose of promoting temperance.

Temperance is restraint in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Louis A. DeQuattro, executive counsel to Paul E. McGreevy, the DBR director, said the department is entitled to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

“We’re going to review the opinion and consider any next steps that we may take,” he said.

State law does allow the sale of a bottle of wine or, for the sake of “ethnic tradition,” aguardiente, a Colombian liquor made from sugar cane. Beer and champagne are also exempt. So if the clubs stick to those items in VIP sections, they will be on the right side of the law.

Distilled spirits are apparently singled out for limitation because their alcohol content is generally more potent than that of wine or beer.

The court ruling gladdened City Solicitor Jeffrey Padwa.

“Bottom line, bottle service is not allowed in the state,” he declared.

Everett Brooks, director of community relations at Johnson & Wales University, called it “a great victory for the City of Providence.” When J&W students patronize bars and nightclubs and misbehave, Brooks has to deal with the repercussions.

Former state Rep. Peter J. Petrarca, however, is peeved. Petrarca, who co-owns Karma nightclub downtown with Gianfranco Marrocco, provoked the battle of the bottle when he asked the DBR for an “advisory opinion” clarifying the statute and the DBR’s companion regulation.

McGreevy issued what he called a “declaratory ruling” that changed the DBR’s previous position, and then a DBR hearing officer postponed implementation of the ruling until the court interpreted the statute.

Judge Procaccini concluded, “Essentially, DBR accepted a vague, poorly framed request … and seized upon that opportunity to fashion a substantial expansion of liquor sales without the approval of the legislature … .”

Petrarca defended bottle service in an interview and said it has been unfairly stigmatized by license regulators and the police.

For a responsible club owner, he said, “there’s no difference in selling a bottle or a glass.”

“It’s a revenue generator” for clubs, he added. “And it allows people to go out who wouldn’t necessarily go out if they were buying alcohol by the glass because [by the glass] it’s more expensive.”

As for Annaldo’s charge that violence and underage drinking are associated with VIP seating, Petrarca said Annaldo has no data to prove it.